Proper Care
by triplenaxelle
Summary: Blaze's grip over his hand tightened gently. In the end, as always, she could not stay mad at him. Sonic x Blaze. Sonaze oneshot.


**Proper Care**

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Sonic and Blaze returned from a fight out in the sea, barely victorious and wounded.

The two reached towards a favorably shady palm tree to catch their breath after they'd fought for their lives. The beach wind blew and brushed against their fresh, dark bruises and scratches over their skin. Blaze ignored thinking about the stinging pain with gritted teeth. Her battered tail hung limp like a rope over one arm, the other holding her blue hedgehog companion.

To whom she was currently giving a piece of her mind.

"You should've listened," Blaze berated. Despite the irritation in her eyes and voice, her hold over the hedgehog was gentle as she helped him down under the tree, making sure his left leg didn't bend the wrong way and upset his impaired foot. She stood over him with clenched fists. "You can't fight a monster underwater, because you can't swim. You could've stayed on the ground and waited for me to finish the job!"

"Y'know waiting's _not_ my best suit," Sonic said in his usual smug tone, and yet smiled weakly. Blaze knotted her brows in annoyance._ 'Even in such a state he's still…!'_ "Sitting around and letting time pass is pretty dull, I had to go in!"

"And you got bruised and injured with a limp ankle as a result." She took in Sonic's damaged form, her eyes as gold as the sunset at her back turning downcast as they lingered longest at Sonic's bad ankle. "Look at them and tell me that it was worth it!"

"Yeah it was." Not the answer she wanted. Blaze narrowed her eyes, but then widened in confusion to see Sonic staring straight at her. He leaned back and sank his weight against the tree bark in relief. "Big ol' Tin Fins was coming straight at you, and I was there, just following my instincts 'cause you getting hurt is everything worse than a few days of no leg motion."

The fire princess answered nothing in return, and yet her yellow eyes stared fiercely into Sonic's spring green.

She had on an unreadable expression. Sonic supposed she was just well-trained to be that way, but it could get frustrating when it seemed like there was something she wanted from him, and yet he couldn't tell what. Not when all he got was her blank gaze that stared right into him and the stiff frown on her face.

It was just that, when Sonic first opened his eyes after regaining consciousness from their recent battle, there was the lavender cat beside him, shocking him with the most devastated gaze he had ever seen from her. Golden irises shrank as they traveled over Sonic's body wound to wound.

_"I'm gonna be fine, this is nothing. Serious," he assured, his voice faint. He reached out one hand to hold her quivering cheek. "C'mon, you look like you're gonna cry."_

_Her eyes had hardened instantly and she'd pulled his hand away to the farthest distance from her face._

He now wondered if she was being a little more cautious this time, as to not let herself crack like that again.

Blaze quietly sat next to him, looking down at his hand. The glove it wore tattered and shred from battle. She took his hand into hers and carefully slid off the torn fabric. She frowned deeply as wounds revealed over the fingers and palm, of the hand that saved her from the brink of death. Guilt-ridden, she traced her fingers around the reddened parts of his skin.

Sonic would have enjoyed the warmth from them more, but he couldn't help noticing the injuries he couldn't save her from. "Sorry about your tail."

"If you're trying to shift my attention from you to myself, it's a weak attempt." Blaze clenched her jaw. If only she were more careful, he wouldn't be in his current condition. She caressed her fingers over his palm as gently as she could. "...You could've died."

"And you were there to keep that from happening." Sonic curled his fingers around hers. He lifted their hands to eye-level. Hedgehog and cat both eyed their entwined hands. "We cover for each other, don't we?"

Blaze's grip over his hand tightened gently. In the end, as always, she could not stay mad at him.

At one point, Sonic pushed Blaze out of the way just in time before she could get whacked heavily by a large metallic fishtail, he spinballed to the robotic whale and got his quills stuck against its gums. The whale screeched, wiggling and shaking its mouth desperately. It was somewhat humorous to watch.

At last, a smile managed its way to Blaze's face. "For what it's worth, you put that oversized mechanical fish in its place."

Sonic smiled back, remembering when Blaze knocked the whale out with a stream of flames, not having it after it not-so-gently spat Sonic out of its great jaws. "We both did!"

"Keep in mind that that doesn't mean I approve of what you did."

"You're such a bummer sometimes you know tha-"

Sonic meant to pull in his legs to sit in a cross-legged position and was given a clear reminder of the amount of hurt he's in.

Blaze clicked her tongue as she helped him straighten his feet once more. "Move around too much and you'll hurt yourself further!"

"You can always kiss me better."

The hedgehog was only kidding, but the fiery feline was staring at him with that unreadable face again, as if she took it as anything else but a joke.

Sometimes, he found it hilarious when people miss the humor and took his quips seriously, pushing him to poke fun at them even more.

In this case, Sonic was only silent as he anticipated any reaction from the feline. Blaze leaning in to touch her lips anywhere near his face was never something he'd laugh about. He fully acknowledged how the prospect in actuality caused his heartbeat to quicken. If she wanted to miss the humor, he wouldn't mind. At all.

Except he knew better. She likely wouldn't do it and just glare at him in hard judgement. Or she'd brush it off. He wouldn't be surprised if she was used to his jests and remarks by now.

Either way, Sonic kept his expression in its usual cheeky, smug attitude, because if he let that slip and Blaze figured out how he truly felt, there's a looming feeling she might make an expression that he truly could read, only with crushing disappointment.

He felt his chest leap when Blaze parted her lips, and quickly told himself that maybe she was going to reprimand him for making such a stupid joke. He waited to hear it.

.

.

.

The hedgehog blinked. "….Wh-what was that?"

Blaze pulled back, her hand still holding onto Sonic's shoulder. His widened green eyes latched to her lips. The blue teen touched his cheek, the warmth still lingering above the blush over his skin.

"My attempt to 'kiss you better.'" The emerald guardian tilted her chin up to look down at him through her lashes, but as intimidating and stern she tried to make herself look, she couldn't hide the bright red on her cheeks. "Clearly, you're all talk."

The beach wind brushed once again against their fur, but neither really felt it. Sonic hadn't stopped looking at her lips, the dark spot on the lower lip reminded him of her other bruises.

He frowned. "You look pretty scratched up yourself."

She shrugged with one shoulder. "I'll be fine."

Sonic slowly reached his hand to one of the wounds on Blaze's face. "Someone needs to kiss you better too."

She held very still, not fighting back when he gently slid his thumb over her cheek. She'd caught her own breath and quickly cleared her throat. "….I-I believe I require the proper treatment."

"Coming right up."

Sonic leaned forward and caught Blaze's lips in his, catching the feline in utter surprise. The blush that had just cooled to a simmer on her cheeks exploded, and Sonic enjoyed all the warmth radiating from her face since the breeze was rather chilly.

Without realizing, Blaze had pulled herself closer into the hedgehog's arms, relaxing into the kiss. The stinging wound on her mouth did throb, but was comforted by Sonic's soft pair of lips. He made sure the kiss stayed gentle, careful not to hurt her. Neither of the two were capable of hearing the waves beyond their rapid heartbeats.

When Blaze said proper treatment of course she meant ointment, bandages, gauze, and other medical care objects. But a kiss on the lips by someone who made her feel something she hadn't dare yet to name….that could be passable.

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_**Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed! Please share any of your thoughts in a review.**_


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